Nico knocked at the Blofis apartment as Sally had insisted on coming over as Estelle had been begging to see him for a while now.
"Nico, how good to see you." Sally said as she embraced the teenager.
"Neeko." Estelle babbled from her playpen as the demigod entered the living room, making grabby hands for him.
"Well hello there little princess." Nico cooed picking up the small mortal in his arms where she immediately made to grab for his hair.
"Neeko play." She demanded pointing at the toy chest tucked in the corner of the room.
He put her down and opened the chest so she could take the toys she wanted to play with.
When she opened the chest and Nico spotted the different coloured toys he felt the fuzzy feeling he had only felt once before, in the underworld. Regression was trying to pull him down. He pushed away the feeling so he could focus on the little girl in front of him.
He and Estelle played for a while before Sally called from the kitchen that lunch was ready, so Nico picked up Estelle and brought her to the kitchen.
He noticed he kept having to ask Sally to repeat what she had said.
"I'll put Estelle down for a nap." She mentioned lifting the girl from her high chair.
"Could you clean up the toys?" She asked knowing that Nico would have to return to Camp Half-Blood soon.
Nico started gathering the little piano and the drums they had played with and put them in the chest. He felt the regression he had been pushing away come back with a vengeance as he picked up the stuffed octopus Estelle had been clinging too the whole morning. He couldn't stop himself from rubbing the soft fluff against his face and felt himself slip into what Apollo had explained to him later was little space.
He plopped himself down on the play mat and kept rubbing the stuffie against his cheek, unable to stop himself from putting his thumb in his mouth.
"How's the cleaning going?" Sally asked as she entered the room startling Nico. He whipped around, lip started trembling and tears gathering in his eyes.
"Oh sweetheart." She said pulling the boy into her arms as the tears started flowing and small hiccups followed.
"It's okay. How old are you sweetheart?" She asked rocking him back and forth.
Nico's tears slowed down and he sniffled rubbing his nose with the back of his hand, getting snot everywhere. He thought about the question and put 2 fingers up before putting his thumb back in his mouth.
"Baby that's icky." Sally said as she coaxed the thumb out of Nico's mouth without causing a new flood of tears. "Let's go wash your face and hand. I bet you'll feel so much better after that." She said standing up and helping Nico to his feet.
"Bring?" He asked as he held out the stuffie.
"Of course you can bring Octi, but just remember he doesn't need a bath." Nico nodded as if a new quest had just been given to him.
"You no mad?" He whispered hiding behind Octi.
"Why would I be mad sweetie?" She asked as she gestured for Nico to sit on the toilet seat as she brought out a washcloth.
"I no stay big." Nico stated as she softly rubbed the tear tracks away.
"You don't have to do anything here Neeks, you know you're always welcome here." She said as she took the stuffed octopus and put it on the counter so she could clean his hands.
"What do you want to do now?" She asked as she brought the boy back into the living room, and noticed his eyes fell on the new box of Duplo blocks she had bought for Estelle but not opened yet.
"You want to build something?" She continued, giving him the box.
He sat himself down on the floor and put Octi carefully next to him and took the box as if it was given by the gods.
He slowly opened the box and a grin lit up his face as he saw the different colored blocks. He didn't pour out the box as most children would do but picked out the pieces he wanted to use and carefully started making a house-like structure Sally observing from her desk while writing her book.
Nico turned out to be easy to care for as a child, he just kept building more and more stuff with the blocks, the only thing she needed to remind him of was to drink some water from the sippy cup she had placed on the coffee table.
Both of the people in the living room were startled as the door opened and a voice yelled: "Mom! I'm home."
Nico ran to hide behind the couch knowing in the back of his mind that he didn't want his friends to know about his little secret, of course Octi joined him as he pushed his face into the soft fluff trying to keep back the tears.
"Mom?" The voice yelled again from the kitchen.
"In here Percy." Sally responded only vaguely having noticed Nico's sprint.
"Why are you here I thought you were staying in New Rome for the holidays." She asked as her son entered the living room and raised his eyebrow at the duplo blocks.
"Frederick surprised Annabeth with a trip to Greece for the holiday's so I thought I could enjoy some time with my baby sister." He said plopping down on the couch.
"Speaking of Stella, where is she? I thought she wasn't allowed to play with Duplo yet." He asked motioning to the play mat, not noticing the small sniffle coming from behind him.
"Estelle is taking her midday nap, you should know this by now." Sally said turning around the chair to face Percy. "And no she isn't. But maybe you'll find the answer behind the couch." She said seeing Nico's hair peeking out from the couch. Percy spun around not used to his reflexes not telling him when something was out of the ordinary.
"Nico?" He asked relaxing at seeing his pseudo little brother, but surprised at seeing him clutching Octi and his thumb in his mouth.
"Nico are you little?" He asked smile coming to his face, when Nico shyly nodded.
"Mom he's like me!" Percy said excitedly as he ran to his mom and Sally noticed that the innocence in her sons eyes seemed to be returned - A clear sign that he was regressing.
"Yeah he is maybe if you ask nicely he'll play with you." She said as she ran her hand through his hair.
He ran back to Nico who seemed to shrink back a little at the sudden movement.
"You wanna play?" Percy asked not noticing Nico's apprehension in his excitement.
"Perseus calm down a bit, Nico is a little shy. Maybe you get Munch and Zippy." Sally said hoping the mention of his stuffed animals would get Percy to leave the room while she coaxed Nico back in front of the couch.
"Nico honey it's okay Percy is just excited to have a friend." She said stroking the boys hair, as he sniffled still.
"No mad." He whispered.
"No Percy isn't mad, maybe he'll even help you build something." Sally said smiling as the boy bit his lip and went to sit in front of the blocks and picked one up.
Then Percy entered the room again a box in his hands.
"Too much to carry." He said as explanation.
"Mommy help?" He asked as holding out the box.
"You wanna get into some comfy clothes?" She asked her heart soaring as she noticed some of Nico's sleep clothes had made it into the box as well. Percy nodded at the question, and pointed at Nico.
"Nico too." He said, which made the other boy look up at his name. "He can use Zippy."
"You wanna get comfy too?" Sally asked holding out the big sweatshirt Nico tended to wear and the stuffed shark in the other, Nico nodded putting his thumb back in his mouth. At seeing his Percy held out an extra pacifier he had to his mom, which she handed to Nico.
"Thank you for taking care of Nico so well." Sally said to Percy.
"I a good big brother." Percy said puffing up his chest, making Nico giggle and nod.
"I love Percy." Nico said hugging Percy while the Percy gave him Zippy to hold and so Octi fell to the floor forgotten.
Percy and Nico spent about an hour building a small replica of Camp with the blocks, Sally watching the whole time.
"It's almost time for Nico to go back to Camp." Sally said coming to the living room with Estelle in her arms, which seemed to jog something in Nico, as he blinked harshly.
It was the first time he came out of little space while away, and it felt like he was coming up from sleep. He felt relaxed and only felt a little embarrassment at the pacifier he pulled out of his mouth. He stood up while Percy continued building at the replica camp not having noticed his mother or sister.
"Thank you Sally." Nico said hugging her being careful of Estelle.
"And I do need to be going. Bye Stella." He said and smiled as Estelle gave him a wave as he let the shadows envelope him.